By Theresa Thompson, Timeless Travels' Art Correspondent Joris Hoefnagel (1542–1600). Arrangement of Flowers in a Vase with Insects, 1594. Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford Anarchic, artful, intimate, intricate, spontaneous, scribbled, studied, and sometimes weird and wonderful – phantasmagoric even in the wild concoction that is Bruegel’s The Temptation of St Anthony (c. 1556) – there are many adjectives that the drawings on display this spring in the Ashmolean Museum’s major exhibition inspire. Bruegel to Rubens, Great Flemish Drawings, to give its full title, showcases 120 exceptional ..read more

Mexico, a country with a vibrant culture and a rich history, beckons travellers with its stunning landscapes and ancient sites. Known for its lively festivals and colourful traditions, mouth-watering cuisine and balmy beaches, Mexico is a popular choice for those looking to create some long-lasting memories.   Whether you’re seeking to soak up the sun, explore historical sites or taste some incredible street food, there are plenty of places and experiences to be found here. And what’s a good holiday without a selection of photographs to look back on in years to come? If documenting your t ..read more

New exhibition from the British Museum tells the story of the life of a Roman legionary through their own eyes and those closest to them By Theresa Thompson, Timeless Travels Arts' Correspondent Above: Copper alloy Roman legionary helmet © The Trustees of the British Museum What was it like to be a soldier in the Roman army 2,000 years ago? How can you tell that story when there were some 300,000 of them stationed across the disparate forts and frontiers of an empire, numbering 60 million people and stretching at its height from Scotland to the Red Sea? When the recruits came from all walks o ..read more

Above: Hans Holbein the Younger, Elizabeth, Lady Vaux, c.1535 Huge personalities from the Tudor Court are transformed by one of the all-time great artists, Hans Holbein, into unforgettable portraits that take us into that vivid world of patronage, power and intrigue, are currently, gloriously on show at The Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace. Who can forget the characters in Holbein’s portraits, captured in sublime drawings by means of a few black chalk lines and subtle touches of colour, and in oil paintings by glorious depths of colour and detail? For many, they define what we imagine when ..read more

By Theresa Thompson, Timeless Travels' Art Correspondent Frans Hals, The Laughing Cavalier, 1624, Oil on canvas, 83 x 67 cm, © Trustees of the Wallace Collection, London It’s a pretty safe bet that in this country most people, if asked to name a painting by Frans Hals will come up with The Laughing Cavalier. An even safer bet might be to ask them to describe the painting and they’ll reply, well, it’s a man, a cavalier, showily dressed – and he’s laughing! Well actually, he’s not: The Laughing Cavalier is neither laughing, nor a cavalier; it’s not even known who he is, but it’s safe to say tha ..read more

By Theresa Thompson, Timeless Travels' Art Correspondent Ramon Casas (1866–1932), A Decadent young woman, After the dance, 1899. Museu do Montserrat, Barcelona From sepia-filled gloom to joyous colour, the Ashmolean Museum’s major autumn exhibition takes us on a sparkling ride through the Victorian world to “dispel the myth that the Victorian era was a dreary landscape of ‘dark satanic mills’ and cities choked with smog.” The opening gallery is dark, chiming with our preconceptions of the era. Reproduced on the wall is French illustrator Gustav Doré’s 1872 engraving of the London slums. That ..read more

By Theresa Thompson, Timeless Travels Art's Correspondent Paula Rego, Crivelli’s Garden , 1990-1, Acrylic on canvas, H 190 x W 944.6 x D 2 cm The National Gallery, London. Presented by English Estates, 1991, © Ostrich Arts Ltd. Photo: The National Gallery, London Had I never really taken in the large mural that for thirty years decorated the back wall of the Sainsbury Wing Dining Room at London’s National Gallery? I’d noticed it, you couldn’t but, but with tables and chairs in the way and friends to talk to, a glance or two was pretty well all it had. But now that the Sainsbury Wing is closed ..read more

By Theresa Thompson, Timeless Travels Arts' Correspondent Ross Place Entrance and the new forecourt of the NPG. Photograph © Olivier Hess After a three-year £41 million renovation and rehang, the National Portrait Gallery last week reopened its doors to the public, and I have to say it looks wonderful. First of all, there’s a trio of fabulous doors to enter through. Instead of, before, it seeming like you’d gone through the side door of a gallery off Trafalgar Square, now it does justice as the entry into the most extensive collection of portraits in the world. Artworks in themselves, these b ..read more

By Theresa Thompson, Arts Correspondent for Timeless Travels © Quentin Blake 1998 Few artists or illustrators alive can claim to have quite the same relationship with the British public, or its children certainly, as Sir Quentin Blake (born 1932) whose works have been a key part of childhood reading for the past 60 years. And few artists have such a strong claim to fame as a talented and acutely observant illustrator of birdlife as the American artist John James Audubon (1785–1851). This summer, visitors to Compton Verney, Warwickshire have the double pleasure of seeing works from both artist ..read more

by Theresa Thompson, Timeless Travels' Arts Correspondent Above: The finished Wedding Cake © Atelier Joana Vasconcelos For the past five years Portuguese artist, Joana Vasconcelos has been cooking up a gigantic wedding cake. It’s pure fantasy land. A 12-metre-high sculptural pavilion in the form of a three-tiered Wedding Cake, it’s part sculpture, part garden folly, part “patisserie” if you will - a cake you can walk into, a cake you can walk up, a cake where, arriving at its golden summit you can be those figures who traditionally embellish the top. Her most ambitious commission to date, Vas ..read more